Moon, Philip (1991) The information search behaviour of individuals in experimental markets. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Individual consumers as well as managers within any
organisation regularly make purchasing decisions. Some of
these decisions will relate to product or service markets
that are characterised by homogeneity in all aspects
except price. There may be a benefit, therefore, from
searching for a lower price. The bulk of this thesis is
concerned with investigating individual search behaviour
when making purchases in such circumstances. After a
comprehensive review of formal search models, together
with the corresponding experimental evidence, a series of
new experiments are described that, in particular,
uncover several heuristics that might govern search
behaviour in practice. A large number of simulated
purchases is used to assess the performance of these
heuristics in comparison with the optimal, theoretical
model. A related judgemental bias - functional fixation -
is also reviewed in detail and tested experimentally.
Finally, the understanding of individual search behaviour
is further developed using a research experiment set in a
more complex, and less highly structured, business
decision context.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Searching behavior, Consumer behavior
Official Date:	1991
Dates:	Date Event 1991 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Keasey, Kevin
Extent:	vii, 290 leaves
Language:	eng

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